Business Leaders’ Committee That Backed Cuomo Finishes Its Business and Shuts Down

By THOMAS KAPLAN

August 30, 2013

The Committee to Save New York, a coalition of business leaders that spent millions of dollars supporting the agenda of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and that seemed, overnight, to become the biggest lobbying force in Albany, said on Friday that it was shutting down.

“From our perspective, we believe our mission was largely successful,” said Michael McKeon, a spokesman for the group. He added that the decision to shut down was motivated by the election calendar, as the group did not want to be seen as interfering with next year’s state elections.

“We decided that to avoid any suggestion that we would play in electoral politics, the time had come for us to close up shop,” Mr. McKeon said.

The committee was formed near the end of 2010, as Mr. Cuomo was preparing to assume office, and proved to be a critical ally for him. Over the next two years, it reported spending more than $16 million to support his agenda, financing television commercials advocating his positions. The group spent more money on lobbying than any other organization in New York State in 2011 and 2012.

While it was active, the committee was not required to reveal where it was getting its money from. Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, came under scrutiny last year after a report that the committee had received $2 million from gambling interests at the same time the governor was developing a proposal to expand casino gambling in the state.

Mr. McKeon said the committee stayed in operation during the past legislative session in case it wanted to respond to efforts by what he called special interest groups. The lack of any significant action by such groups, Mr. McKeon said, was evidence of the committee’s success. He also cited the passage of state budgets that controlled spending and the approval of cuts to pension benefits for newly hired public workers as measures the group considered to be victories.

“Albany is functioning a lot better now than it has been previously,” he said. “The governor and the Legislature get the credit for that, not us, that’s for sure. But we believe that the supportive role we played in promoting a reform agenda definitely helped neutralize the special interest money that had dominated previously.”

The committee’s last federal tax return showed that it had about $2 million on hand. Mr. McKeon said its remaining money would be refunded to donors.